I'll start off with how I have been feeling for the past five years. It all started one night when I woke up in the middle of the night with diarrhea, nausea, hot flashes, sweating, tingling and numbness. Something did not feel right in my head at all. Now since that episode my life hasn't been the same. Have been seeing a psychiatrist who put me on anti-depressants and "labeled" me as having a generalized anxiety disorder. I didn't stop there! Had my blood levels checked and my hormone levels checked no thyroid check yet! Doctor didn't even really think she needed to run the hormone levels check but I persisted. My levels came back fine except for my cortisol and testosterone! They were on the higher side and out of range. Doctor sent me to an endo and they said I was fine. So I try going on with my life and can't take it anymore a year or 2 later and a different doctor decided to maybe check my thyroid levels. They ran the full blood panel. Labs came back and I was 5.5 TSH or something like that a little over the normal but not enough to treat. Saw an endo again a different one and was told I was fine and to just keep an eye out on my levels. So that's what I have done. I will now speed it up to where I am at now, I was diagnosed with hypothyroid with thyroiditis. I seemed to have been doing better since I was put on a small dose of levothyroxine and then in December my levels went into the -'s and doctor told me to go off the meds and get my levels checked again in a month. 2 weeks later I was admitted to the er and my tsh was at 41. Back to the doctors and back on meds I go. Levels went from 9 one week and 14 the next. Don't remember the other thyroid numbers. I also had an ultrasound done and one time it was inflamed the next time it was fine. Is that normal? I was also negative for anti-thyroglobulin but positive for anti-peroxide! My biggest problem I am still facing is this weird brain feeling, like I feel trapped which is really scary not even really sure how to explain it, which makes it even that much scarier for me. Just wondering if this is caused by the thyroid hormones going up and down and once I am on the right dosage should I start to feel like my old self again. I hate how it feels like my life has been taken from me, I just want it back!

P.S - I do have cold feet and hands, my heart pounds, I fatigue very easily and my skin has a few dry patches. I just find it strange to be hypothyroid and experiencing so many things that are associated with hyperthyroidism!

Surgery is usually not needed in these situations. Most thyroid disease can be managed with the right amounts of supplemental hormones (for hypoT) or anti-thyroid drugs (for hyperT).

The kind of wild swings you seem to be having might be the result of a temporary thyroiditis that will resolve over time with medical support.

Or, it might be an early stage of Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which almost never resolves. With Hashi's, the hyper swings eventually give way to permanent hypothyroidism. The treatment is supplemental hormone for life. This is the disease that you describe as having "attacking and killing" antibodies. But you don't have to just put up with the hyper/hypo swings forever. You can gradually work up to a full replacement dose of thyroid hormone, which will "switch off" your gland's natural function so it won't produce any more hormone. Then your body will rely on the hormone from the pill for its needs and will restore normalcy to the rest of your body's functions.

The next piece of info you should get from your doctor is whether he thinks this is acute (temporary) thyroiditis or Hashimoto's thyroiditis. How it's treated depends on what it is.